In many agricultural applications, particulate materials, such as seed, fertilizer, inoculants and other seed treatments are applied to a field in controlled amounts either simultaneously or at different times. The amounts of these particulate materials must be carefully metered and controlled because the amount of particulate material that reaches the ground is usually critical in order to optimize crop yields. Additionally, these particulate materials often constitute costly inputs to an agricultural farm and it is often very beneficial and cost effective to efficiently make use of the this particulate material.
Typically, a product tank is used to hold the particulate material to be deposited into the ground. Often these tanks contain a number of compartments so that a single product tank can hold more than one type of particulate material (e.g. one compartment can contain seed while another contains fertilizer). The product tank dispenses the particulate to a metering device that controls the amount of the particulate material that is being routed to an air seeding apparatus by an air distribution system, where the particulate material will typically be deposited into a furrow that has been formed in the ground. The metering device is used to try and control the amount of particulate material that reaches the air seeding apparatus.
These multiple compartment product carts allow more than one type of particulate material (e.g. both seed and fertilizer) to be deposited into the ground during a single pass. Previously, air seeding systems using product carts with multiple compartments came in double shoot and even triple shoot configurations. The double shoot configuration was used for products carts with two separate compartments and the triple shoot configuration was used for products carts with three separate compartments. The double and triple shoot configurations allowed two and three types of particulate material, respectively, to be supplied and deposited into the ground by an air seeding system during a single pass. These systems use two or three separate sets of distribution lines to route the various types of particulate material to be deposited into the ground with each compartment in the product tank having its own set of distribution lines connected to the metering device on that compartment and therefore each set of distribution lines carrying one type of particulate material.
More recently, some manufactures have developed metering assemblies that can selectively supply particulate material from a compartment of a product cart to either of a first set of distribution lines or a second set of distribution lines. This allows a user to configure their air seeding system depending on the specific requirements for a single field. For example, one compartment can be filled with seed and routed to the first set of distribution lines while a second compartment can be filled with fertilizer and routed to a second set of distribution lines. Alternatively, both compartments may be filled with seed and the metering assemblies on both compartments set to route the seed to only the first set of distribution lines or the only the second set of distribution lines.
However, many of these systems require complex diverter valves and linkages making their operation mechanically complex. Additionally, in some cases it is desirable to have a metering device that can relatively quickly prevent particulate material from being dispensed from a product cart or even allowing the flow of particulate material to certain sections of the air seeding system to be stopped.